A baby is born completely helpless. Someone must provide for its every need. Yet if it is to survive, there are certain things it must eventually do for itself. One is to breathe.

Lungs are complex organs. But simply put, they take a gas that your body needs to get rid of (carbon dioxide) and convert it into a gas that your body needs (oxygen). You breathe in and out from 15 to 25 times per minute without even thinking about it. When you exercise your breathing rate goes upóagain, without thinking about it. You breathe so regularly that itís easy to take your lungs for granted. In fact, you can't stop yourself from breathing even if you try! If you hold your breath long enough and lose consciousness, your body will eventually override your action and force you to start breathing again.

Clinical studies prove that oxygen, wellness, and life-span are totally dependent on proper breathing. Improper breathing either worsens or causes every illness known to mankind.

Dr. Andrew Weil, M.D., Clinical Professor of lnternal Medicine, University of Arizona in Tucson, is quoted as saying, "The simplest and most important technique for protecting your health is breathing. I have seen breath control alone achieve remarkable results: lowering blood pressure, ending heart arrhythmias, improving long-standing patterns of poor digestion, increasing blood circulation throughout the body, decreasing anxiety and allowing people to get off addictive anti-anxiety drugs, and improving sleep and energy cycles."

Ninety-nine percent of our energy should come from breathing, yet most of us access only 10-20 percent of our full breathing capacity, leaving us short of energy and compromising optimum health and well-being.

One clinical study of 5,200 people over a 30-year span showed that pulmonary function measurement is an indicator of general health and vigor and literally the primary measure of potential life span. Doesn't this make you want to sit up straight and take a deep gulp of air? Thatís not a bad idea to do right now, while you are reading this article.

What oxygen is to the body, prayer is to the soul. In fact, it could be said that prayer is the breath of the soul. Just as our great Creator put within us a way to get rid of poisonous gases and take in life-sustaining oxygen, so prayer is, as it were, an umbilical cord through which God sends us His healing (forgiveness of sin) and His spiritual life-sustaining power.

Nothing takes the place of prayer as a source of spiritual power. Through prayer our hearts are brought into immediate contact with the Great Physician. Prayer is absolutely essential for spiritual health. While it can be said that no one will be saved merely because they pray, the fact is no one will be saved unless they pray. A born-again person who doesn't pray will not survive for long. The prayers of others may sustain them temporarily, but like the newborn baby who must breathe, so must we begin to pray on our own or our life in Christ will suffocate and die.

The results of neglecting prayer may be hardly noticeable at first, but eventually the symptoms will be unmistakable:

1. Heartfelt prayer soon becomes only empty words and a formality.

2. The person's once lofty values become like those of the world.

3. They begin to talk less and less about God and about spiritual things.

4. Private time alone with God becomes less and less frequent until at

last it disappears altogether.

5. Resisting sin becomes less and less important until it is resisted only

when it would have the most serious consequences.

Contrary to popular belief, prayer is not something we opt to do when we can't do anything else. Prayer is something we must do if we are to stay alive spiritually and grow in grace.

Perhaps your tendency is to pray only when you have a problem you can't seem to resolve or a need you are not able to fill. There's surely nothing wrong with taking our needs to God; but if that's the only time we pray, the result is when we have no perceived needs we will not pray.

The Bible admonishes us to pray without ceasing. This doesn't mean that we must be on our knees all the time. But just as an anti-virus program is always running in the background on our computer, so our hearts and minds should be continually in tune with God.

Comparing prayer with breathing makes a lot of sense. I donít breathe to get something, I breathe to be. When Iím sick I breathe, and when Iím well I breathe. My union with the God will not be just when I need His healing power for a special problem in my life. Opening my heart to Him will be the means He uses to bring spiritual growth and health to my life.